We explore Zuma's grip on broadcasters, and Wikimedia Foundation on facts, trust and open source knowledge.

From this Episode

On The Listening Post this week: South Africa's media and Jacob Zuma's State of the Nation address. Plus, we sit down with Katherine Maher, executive director of the Wikimedia Foundation.

When South Africa's President Jacob Zuma delivered his annual State of The Nation address to parliament on February 9, the force of his political argument was backed by a show of force.

Thousands of police officers and hundreds of soldiers were deployed at the Houses of Parliament in Cape Town to help "maintain law and order".

One of the country's main opposition groups, The Economic Freedom Fighters, hijacked the event to heckle and harangue the president live on television.

Zuma's annual speech, along with the accompanying opposition theatrics, is one of the few times the president is depicted in a less-than-flattering light on the state-owned TV network, the SABC.

The SABC is a story in itself. The findings of a parliamentary committee set up to investigate the channel have been damning - on issues such as political interference from the Zuma government, financial mismanagement and more.

Fireworks in the parliament and the state broadcaster under investigation, we're going to look at the state of the South African media.